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11 January 2005

Fat and steel, cream and acid: white Burgundy synthsizes opposites. No surprise then to find there a Temple of Janus, the god of two faces: one coming, one going, one happy, one sad. Contradiction may be at the heart why of Burgs appeal to CQ, but we also think it works as Breakfast Wine.

Following: other thoughts with which we left a recent 2001 1ere Cru tasting, where 8 participants tried 8 wines blindly, each ranked them and then took averages of rankings.

CQ's #1 - Ramonet, Chassagne Montrachet, Morgeot. Group's #3 of 8. Lush minerals and floral notes in the nose and what some called slutty or promiscuous oak on the tongue, balanced by great acids and a hugely long finish. All one could hope for in a baby white Burg. Kind of strange to be seduced by oak, but at least one's assured this is old and french rather than young and flexing. $48

CQ (closely tied for #3) #4 - Chateau de la Maltroye, Chassagne Montrachet, Dents de Chien. Group's #4. We found cappucino, cinnamon, coffee, chocolate notes in the nose - not sweet but rather soft and pretty, with an urchin-like acidic curl to it; fat and complex on the palate. Quite long too; a bitter flirtatiousness that wouldn't unhand you. $70

White Chardonnay grapes in Burgundy gain complexity and grace from growing in acidic, minerally chalks and limestone, high in calcium carbonate. California'a fat, round, buttery Chardonnays grow in less acid and more fertile soils; if good wine can be made from them it wil be through manipulating how the climate, not the soil effects grapes.

11 November 2004

Though it was a bit past noon yesterday when we wandered into Craftbar, it was in some deeper sense still early. To brace ourselves against the day we first gave the Alsatian 2002 Paul Zinck Prestige Riesling a spin. A bit flabby unfortunately with none of the requisite verve. A 2003 Anton Bauer Gruner Veltliner from Donauland also lacked the swarthy, determined gate we had in mind to carry us through lunch and the Albana/Sauvignon Blanc blend from Srabismo di Venere in Emilia-Romagna, while interesting seemed a little sloop-shouldered and vaguely sweet. Finally a well structured, flinty Bordeaux arrived with just the punch we wanted: the 2003 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend from Chateau La Caussade in Sainte Croix du Mont. Craftbar had on the list for $7 a glass. Wish we knew where to find this as the bottle can’t be more than $10 in a shop. Its steely muscular profile with toast, minerals and yeast was the perfect kickstart; a couple few of these put us in in good stead for lunch. For lunch: roasted sea bass on the bone with crisped and smoky skin in a pond of pequillo peppers, tripe and roasted cippolinis for one. For the other, a braised and roasted bunny. Phenomenally good, both.

We shared a couple cheeses for dessert: the Basque Abbaye de Bellocq, which hadn’t quite enough funk on it, and a stunning Lingot (also goat) du Quercy. A glass of Henri Darnat’s 2001 Clos du Domaine Meursault Burgundy from the Cote de Beaune paired well - nothing in common with the Bordeaux of course, this was a deep, soft, elegant, complex pineapple-and-pollen whirlpool. Fortified, we poured ourselves into theater seats for a screening of Sideways – an utterly charming flick – and then walked over to the wine bar Enoteca at I Trulli.

We’d loved the 1997 Tegolaia from Travignoli once sold here, but I Trulli has since moved on to pouring the 1999. When asked how the two compared, the sommelier poured us the 1999 Brunello from Castelli Martinozzi instead. Lovely fellow by the way: tasteful, knowledgeable and not at all the pretentious sort one so often finds at wine bars. Used to be the sommelier at Babbo for three years. Well this Brunello – good god, what a supercool wine. We at CQ could consume it case upon case and well may. Here though we did stick to just the one glass, as when it was gone our new found sommelier next recommended another: the simpler if also gorgeous Aglianico del Vulture Riserva, 1998 from Tenuta del Portale. Aglianico has so much unassuming character and none-too-fruity fruit; this seems an Italian's Italian and one well paired with I Trulli's house-cured prosciutto, coppa and soppressata. It was though getting on and for a night cap after our arduous day we had the lovely if leagues softer Puglian Rupicolo di Rivera, 2002. Velvety, dark, unctuous: this is another it'd well pay to keep on hand. This week, the sommelier said, he'll have new fall flights lined up.We'll be back.

10 November 2004

Beauty, poet and sculptor Gita Ghei once noted that if ever you're having a bad day, just have breakfast and you can start over. Taking her wisdom to heart we've begun to research which wines work best with, or instead of breakfast. Yes, Rieslings may have the upper hand from the get go, and though this first installment begins to look into that possibility, we also intend to give fair shakes to Muscadet, Cortese, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Noir among others. Please remember that CQ encourages your comments and suggestions on this or any other topic. Post them by clicking on 'comment.'

One morning not long ago we dropped into the lovely new Discovery wine shop on New York City's Lower East Side where importer Domaine Select was hosting an Austrian tasting. Several winemakers were on hand to present their wares and while much more than just Rieslings and Gruner Veltliners were poured, all were white and all reasonable suitable for early morning ministrations. In the rather random order in which they were poured:

Sudoststeiermark(SE Styria) Frühwirth, Klöcher Tranminer, Hochwarth 2003. Rose petally; earthy, fuller fruits.Thermenregion, Karl Alphart, Rotgipfler 2003. Our favorite, maybe. Georgeous, explosive minerality; clear, faintly
tropical fruit invoking distilled banana mango. What glorious structure here though, like the young Brigitte Bardot. Rotgipfler
varietal only grows in this wee place, close to Vienna but sheltered from
cold NE winds by warm Hungarian winds. The grape seems not to be much exported as yesterday when we dropped in to Discoverey they sadly had none on offer.

Donauland/Wagrau, Leth, Roter Veltliner, Scheiben 2003. Oddly, Red Veltliner is both older than and not related to Gruner Veltliner. It is a late ripening grape
harvested from the beginning to late November. From fifty year old vines, this is powerful wine and exactingly
trimmed. Its nuanced spicy fragrances hinted to apricot without overbearing sugars and its big, elegant loping length had a pretty, unsticky finish.Donauland/Wagrau, Wimmer-Czerny, Taminer Trio, Mitterweg 2003. We were quite fond indeed of the hyperminerality here, which we'd imagine renders vitamins redundant. Low low acids meant this had less body than the others. The Riesling is a descendant of Traminer and this wine was a blend of 3 Traminers: Red, Yellow and Gewurtz. Notable was the delicious yeast here that the winemakers carefully cultivate on their own vineyards which certainly pays off.Kamptal, Brandl, Reisling, Heiligenstein 2003. Another top pick. Huge complexity, very light in color. Minerally pepper spice. Lovely, come to think of it, for breakfast; reason enough to get out of bed.

Another recent CQ foray into Rieslings, this time via Germany, occurred in the wake of an American contrarian's trip to the fatherland. There he'd learned to rustle up the Black Forrest delicacy, Schwabian Maultaschen, pork and leek dumplings. When correctly pronounced Maultaschen sound like Malatov, so we suggested that armed with his arcane neo-Malatov knowledge, our comrade host a bash. Not only could he showcase the dumplings, which don't sound bad as dumplings go, but clearly the babies are intended to accompany Rieslings.

With appetizers - marinated Portuguese sardines served over toasts first layered with ripe avocado and topped with scallion strips and a chive mince - we opened the 2003 von Hovel - Schartzhofberger - Kabinett: petrol and grapefruit, well balanced and bright. Pretty and playful if remarkably low in alcohol. In fact all the evening's wines were nearly alcohol-free, which had the odd effect of rendering the CQ directorate quite able to fly itself home (our host has a helipad on his roof), yet just as surprised to wake up the next morning - not having gotten even tipsy - with a remarkably bad hangover. Sulphurs, we've been told.

The pillowy and undressed Malatov dumplings were served warm with a traditional potato salad – grain mustard and apple cider vinegar - cold. With the Malatovs we opened two Spatleses: the floral, tasty 1998 Münsterer Pittersberg, Kruger-Rumpf which reminded us a bit of autumn’s too leggy impatiens. Its low acids were a touch flabbier and not as articulate as we'd have preferred. Superior, we agreed, was the elegant 1997 Brauneburger Juffe, Max. Ferd. Richter which age had left with a poised citrus bounce, and one bereft of youthful sweetness.

With a homemade and thankfully none-too-sweet pumpkin pie, we popped the 1999 Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle - Auslese -- Dönnhoff. This we found a bit monotonous and syrupy, rather sans character or interest. But then we aren't much of Sauternists either.